Has humanity come any closer to the risk of a planetary cataclysm? A group of experts will unveil on Tuesday the new time of the apocalypse clock, supposed to measure the imminence of this phenomenon.
The American NGO Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, responsible for this symbolic clock, will announce at 10 a.m. (3 p.m. GMT) how many seconds separate the planet from the fateful midnight gong.
Founded in 1945 by Albert Einstein and scientists who worked on the “Manhattan” project, which produced the first atomic bomb, this group of experts sets the new time each year.
Originally, after World War II, the clock showed 7 minutes to midnight. By 1991, when the Cold War ended, it had been set back to 17 minutes before midnight. In 1953, as well as in 2018 and 2019, it displayed midnight minus 2.
For the past two years, it has been stuck at 100 seconds from midnight, a record.
The climate crisis, the war in Ukraine and the risks posed by nuclear proliferation will, among other things, be taken into account in the calculation of the year 2023.